Apple is Going Back to School

Apple is Going Back to School



By Joseph Morin



For well over five years now I have owned Apple products. Going back even further, the first computer I owned was an Apple Macintosh Classic. Yeah you know, the one with a handle that made it "portable" according to Apple. Since then I have owned newer Mac's, iPad's, and of course, iPhone's.

Since Apple was founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne a lot has happened with the company. There have been good, bad, and ugly things that have happened. Everything ranging from the revolutionary Apple 2 that brought computers to the mass market and the Newton that brought nothing to anyone. Recently though things have improved a great deal. Apple revolutionized mobile phones and changed an entire industry. Also the iPad put powerful computing into something the size of a book or magazine when only a few decades ago computers were much larger and were arguably capable of much less.

One thing Apple used to do quite well, was to put useful technology into the hands of students and schools. The Apple 2 and the Macintosh were often found in classrooms during the early to mid 90's when I was still in grade school. Since then though Apple has gone away with having their products in schools to a large extend. With the exception of the iPad in recent years which was very natural for children to pick up and use as it turns out. Now the only thing really keeping this from being in the hands of more children in schools is the issue of the price. Prices currently range from $449 to $1649 on the high end. Unfortunately this puts it out of the price range for schools to bring them in for enough kids to make it worth while and currently keeps Apple out of the school market and leaves the door open to competitors such as Google and Microsoft.

Now coming up on March 27th Apple is having an education event in Chicago and not at the Steve Jobs Theater that they built specifically for these events. The reason for this is likely due to some significant education related announcements that they have planned. The standout on the list of possible announcements is a more affordable iPad which would not only be a hit with the general population, but schools would finally be able use iPad's in larger quantities. Also if Apple can find a way to include a cheaper Apple Pencil and a keyboard case that would make it a very compelling product for schools and especially with children with learning disabilities. Which as it turns out the iPad has been a very cool thing and has helped these children out a lot and made learning fun for them.



Next on the list of possible announcements is a more affordable MacBook. Released back 2006 this was one of Apple's most popular and successful products and in my opinion would be a huge hit if brought back. Not only would schools and students be interested but entry level customers would also be all over it. Having said that it would need to be priced between $600-$900 at the most to make it successful in my opinion. Doing this would be a huge shift for Apple since they are a company that makes a huge profit margin on all of their products. Apple typically makes between 27-40% profit on their products on average across the board. For a company with a net worth of $229.234 billion approximately they have the ability and the room to sell some more affordable products with a lower profit margin.
Something else on the possible list is an updated MacMini. Personally I don't think this will
happen because quite frankly its not a big seller for Apple. For those who don't know, the
MacMini is essentially a computer without the monitor or screen and without a mouse or
keyboard. People tend to prefer something all inclusive and don't want to have to buy
anything extra. So bottom line I don't expect a new one to be announced at least with
education in mind. If they do one, and that's a big if, the wont do it until later in the year or
next year. Briefly on the MacPro. I don't expect anything there because its way too far out of
most people's price range let alone any school. Don't get me wrong, its an awesome
machine but at $2999 on the low end, its not practical for anyone who doesn't have deep pockets.

Last but certainly not least I think the coolest possible announcement we'll see is something called ClassKit. In simplest terms this is a set of developer tools that will allow teachers and possibly even students to maketheir own tailor made education apps for their class. This pulled off correctly would be an extremely powerful thing for schools and would be a whole new way for teachers to implement their curriculum onto something the students will actually be excited to to use. Anyone who has seen a child using an iPad or other tablet will know what I'm talking about.
So there you have it. Those are my predictions on what we'll see at this event. This is a
perfect opportunity for Apple to get their products back into the hands of teachers and
students and turn classroom into a fun learning environment for teachers and student alike.
When im not blogging I am one half of The J&K Podcast with my Co-Host Karl Karufel.
We talk pro wrestling, tech and more. Our podcast is available at jandkpodcast.podbean.com.
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